An almost flawless Division 1 campaign has set Clare up nicely, says manager Brian Lohan.
His first piece of silverware as senior manager and the county’s first in seven years, the win over Kilkenny was a considerable one, according to the Wolfe Tones man.
Given it was also a second consecutive win over The Cats in the space of four weeks, it was additionally significant in the context of losing the last two All-Ireland semi-finals to them.
“It’s massive for us,” said Lohan of Saturday evening’s result in Thurles.
“The group works really hard and you do want to get some reward for your effort. It was just massive for us, particularly with our results against Kilkenny over the last couple of years.
“We’ve had to deal with a lot of disappointment from Kilkenny so we were very focused. The players have been working really hard for the last while and sometimes you get reward for your work and sometimes you don’t. We got that little bit of reward today.”
Clare won all but one of their seven games in this campaign, the one dropped point coming in a draw against Wexford.
“You can’t beat winning,” stressed Lohan. “It’s an old saying but it’s a true saying. It’s great for the group, it’s great for the county, it’s great for hurling within the county. We’ve put down a really good week.
“Our minors did very well on Thursday night, our U20s did brilliant last (Friday) night, and the pressure was there for the seniors to do something tonight. Thankfully, our seniors did do something so we’re delighted with our group and delighted with the work they put in.”
Lohan said Clare are keeping their fingers crossed Tony Kelly will be fit for the Munster championship as he recovers from another ankle operation that forced him out of the
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